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Milford Police Department Improves Efficiency

Milford Connecticut’s Police Department is using NAVEX Global’s PolicyTech policy management software to simplify the department’s daily needs for viewing policy and procedure by creating a centralized electronic database of policies that is easy to access from any computer. The department also benefits from the archive function, which saves each version of every document for later reference.

“PolicyTech is used daily in referencing many policy procedures in law enforcement. The investment has more than paid for itself.”

- Sgt. Dan Bothwell Milford Police Department

MPD was founded in 1915 with six officers. It now has more than 150 employees and volunteers, provides policing services to more than 53,000 people with various subdivisions – administrative services, a crime prevention unit, identification bureau, investigative services, marine patrol/ dive team, narcotics and vice squad, patrol, special response team (SRT), state certified training academy, traffic services, and a youth bureau.

Each sub-division has its own policies and procedures that must be maintained to ensure state accreditation. These documents were stored in paper folders. NAVEX Global’s PolicyTech’s policy manager software manages policy and procedure documents for easy access, creates and maintains archives, and tracks readers of each document.

MPD moved vital policies from paper folders and binders to PolicyTech so each document is safely stored yet easily accessible to all of the officers and volunteers. It also simplified training procedures as new employees can be directly assigned to all of the documents related to their job title.

MPD finds solution to banish bulky paper folders

Milford police wanted to update their policy and procedure management system, consisting of bulky paper folders, in order to come in line with state accreditation standards. The use of hard copies made it difficult for officers to determine where documents were located and if those documents were current.

After a fair comparison of several database and software solutions, MPD chose NAVEX Global’s policy management software as the best fit to meet the police department’s requirements. One major benefit provided by the system is the ability to track when polices have been read. It also performs automatic archiving of old policies when a new version is issued.

“The archive feature and the ability to search the archive are of monumental importance to this field of work,” said Sgt. Dan Bothwell. “Officers are often summoned to appear in court and required to bring a department policy regarding some action the officer took in reference to the case in question. This can happen years after the fact and sometimes the policy in question has undergone multiple revisions or even been completely rescinded.”

“PolicyTech is a positive improvement to our organization as it has helped us organize our policies and made it easier for our employees to reference them when needed,” said Bothwell. “The investment has more than paid for itself.”

MPD also utilizes the tracking features of the software to ensure that each of its employees has read and understood the department policies and procedures that apply to their job.

“We wanted to update our current policies and employee manual and become a state-accredited police department in the process,” said Bothwell. “We needed a program that would enable us to create, maintain, and locate policies easily and quickly.”

Results Found in a Lack of Paper

MPD found that PolicyTech met all of their needs for policy management.

MPD moved their policies from folders and file cabinets to the security of their servers;

Officers have access to policies and procedures via any internet connection. Policies are searchable through a variety of key-words, division titles, and dates;

MPD uses PolicyTech to create and monitor the process for drafting, review, and approval of new documents; and

PolicyTech automatically archives old department policies that can be easily retrieved.

Fighting crime, not paperwork.

NAVEX Global’s policy management software helps the Milford Police Department keep their policies up to date, organized and available to all of their officers and volunteers.

Many law enforcement agencies are looking to meet Commission on Accreditation for law Enforcement Agencies (CAlEA) standards which require “comprehensive, well thought out, uniform set of written directives” that guide department function. NAVEX Global’s policy management software provides an effective solution to managing a variety of law enforcement documents that meet CAlEA standards.

Bothwell said he would “absolutely” recommend the system to other law enforcement agencies looking to more effectively manage their policy and procedure documents.

About NAVEX Global, Inc.NAVEX Global’s comprehensive suite of ethics and compliance software, content and services helps organizations protect their people, reputation and bottom line. Trusted by 95 of the FORTUNE 100 and more than 13,000 clients, our solutions are informed by the largest ethics and compliance community in the world.

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